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Quadriceps test to study nerve damage in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Tests a combined quadriceps test to track motor nerve damage in people with ALS.

Key facts

Who runs it
University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand
Where
Clermont-Ferrand, FranceSee the site
Trial code
Registry title
QCT in ALS Diagnosis, Mechanistic Understanding and Follow-up
Status
Recruiting
People taking part
30 people, planned
Started
28 Jun 2022
Expected to end
Jun 2030
Type of study
Interventional
Treatments tested
  • Quadriceps Combined Test
Record updated
30 July 2026

Who can take part

AI summary

From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.

The trial is looking for adults with suspected ALS (bulbar or spinal). Their ALS must be possible, probable or definite by the Awaji criteria.

Age
18 years or older (legal age)
Sex
Men and women
Disease stage
Suspected ALS, bulbar or spinal, meeting the Awaji criteria for possible, probable or definite ALS

Main reasons for not taking part

  • Pregnant or breastfeeding women
  • Severe progressive disease other than ALS
  • Another neurological disease that affects movement
  • Epilepsy, pacemaker or metal object inside the skull (contraindication to trans-cranial magnetic stimulation)
  • Chronic alcoholism or cognitive problems that make it impossible to understand the study and sign consent

The registry criteria, word for word

Show all 11 criteriaShow less

Who can take part

  • A male or female patient of legal age with suspected ALS (bulbar or spinal) who meets the criteria for "possible", "probable" or "definite" ALS according to the Awaji criteria
  • Able to give informed consent to participate in the research
  • Enrolled in a Social Security plan

Who cannot take part

  • Comorbidities with another neurological disease altering motor skills
  • Contraindication to trans-cranial magnetic stimulation: epilepsy, pacemaker, intracranial ferromagnetic foreign body (clip, aneurysm, implants)
  • Cognitive disorders or major incapacity making it impossible to understand the study and sign an informed consent (fronto-temporal dementia, psychiatric conditions of psychotic type, language disorders)
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding woman
  • Severe progressive pathology other than ALS
  • Chronic alcoholism
  • Refusal to participate
  • Patients under legal protection (guardianship, curators, safeguard of justice)

Where in France

  • CHU de Clermont-FerrandClermont-Ferrand, FranceContact: Lise LaclautreTaking people

About the trial

What the trial wants to find out

Multidisciplinary management of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can significantly increase survival but also improve the quality of life of patients. The evaluation of cortical-spinal motor neuron damage is currently based only on the assessment of clinical data. However, the alteration of the central motor pathway and conduction can be identified and quantified by different techniques using motor-evoked potentials (MEP). The combined quadriceps test (QCT) has been developed to assess central and peripheral motor pathway conduction. This test allows to quantify central and peripheral part of a mixed disorder, and to detect physiological hyporeflexia or hyperreflexia which, in the case of suspected ALS, can lead to interpretation problems.

Read full original descriptionShow less

The evolution of the QCT parameters during the course of pathology will lead to determine the preponderance of an initial central involvement, but also its extension throughout the pathology. The study of these parameters as well as the clinical course of the disease could reveal a correlation between peripheral and central involvement. This link would provide arguments in favor of pathophysiological hypotheses of disease onset and progression. From a prognostic point of view and depending on the quantification of central and peripheral involvement, the QCT would make it possible to characterize the different ALS phenotypes. This phenotypic characterization would help identify prognostic factors at diagnosis.

The investigators propose a cohort study with the exploration of central motor neuron damage by QCT during the course of ALS in order to provide arguments for a better mechanistic understanding and follow-up of this disease with a poor prognosis.

The group in the trial

  • Quadriceps Combined TestOther group

Questions to ask the study team

  1. How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
  2. Are travel costs paid?
  3. Can I keep my own doctor?
  4. What happens if I want to stop?

Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations

Print a page for my doctor

Data and sources

Registry record
Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Official title
Contribution of the Combined Quadriceps Test (QCT) in the Diagnosis, Mechanistic Understanding and Follow-up of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Plain-language title
Quadriceps test to study nerve damage in amyotrophic lateral sclerosisGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
Record updated
30 July 2026